Saturday, January 22, 2011

HRC Urges President to Ignore ENDA in Favor of Bullying

The New York Times did a piece in which various interest groups were asked what topics President Obama should touch on in his annual State of the Union Address. In yet another WTF moment, HRC spokesman Fred Sainz (you know, the guy who said the repeal of DADT meant that we wouldn't have to do anything more for equality) urged the President to address bullying.

Fred Sainz: Once again urging us to not bother legislators with our rights.

"This past year Americans were confronted with the epidemic of bullying against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people that goes on in our schools. The State of the Union address would be an appropriate time for the President to assert leadership on this moral issue and call on all schools to address the problem head on."

Listen, bullying is a terrible thing, and it should stop. However, aren't there more concrete, tangible goals he can tackle... oh, like, marriage equality? Or ENDA? Bullying can't be stopped with legislative efforts, but these things can. Let's not ignore our major goals in favor of the issues that are getting headlines.

2 comments:

Marriage equality, employment equality, civil equality...all of these are in and of themselves substantial anti-bullying efforts. Legal discrimination against LGBTQ-persons is, simply put, legalized bullying at an institutional scale.

Anti-bullying efforts that target children won't be nearly as effective as they would have been had we put in place the structure that informs children and adults of our equality.

No, the ENDA, equal marriage rights, and similar laws will not end bullying in and of themselves, but they will give the anti-bullying efforts a much stronger hand to play with (and one that is less dependent on whatever administration is in place).